Hello there, i'm new here and noticed this thread, which is actually what prompted me to register and post. I made a beer can chicken with the half full can in the chicken and some extra beer in the pan. I used everything extra with a bit of flour to thicken it to make gravy and i have to say that it was the best gravy i ever made. So i would highly recommend giving it a try and experimenting with it, it truly can be something wonderful.

I think that because you're grilling and you're cooking out you'd have potato salad instead of mashed potatoes, hence you wouldn't need to make gravy, although it seems like it would be good.

I couldn't even tell you if I was even having potatoes
I'm a waste not want not kind of person. If some good drippings come my way I'll make gravy for a later date even if I don't need it that day. Like for an open faced sandwich. Like I said a few years ago though, I just have a hard time wrapping my head around combining grilled or smoked meat drippings with making them into a gravy. And a good part of that is probably exactly what you said, Z, because I'm not having anything I want the gravy for that day.

I made my first beer can chicken this week. I put a pan under the grates (indirect heat) to catch all the drips to spare my grill. When the chicken was done I took the pan out and set it aside, intending to make gravy. The delicious chicken distracted me so much I didn't remember the pan until that evening when I heard a noise on the porch....a possum enjoying the drippings!!!! I will try gravy next time!!

I made my first beer can chicken this week. I put a pan under the grates (indirect heat) to catch all the drips to spare my grill. When the chicken was done I took the pan out and set it aside, intending to make gravy. The delicious chicken distracted me so much I didn't remember the pan until that evening when I heard a noise on the porch....a possum enjoying the drippings!!!! I will try gravy next time!!

Sounds like the makings of agood long thread, L2C... if an animal gets into the food on my porch before I put it away, is it still good the next day?

I made my first beer can chicken this week. I put a pan under the grates (indirect heat) to catch all the drips to spare my grill. When the chicken was done I took the pan out and set it aside, intending to make gravy. The delicious chicken distracted me so much I didn't remember the pan until that evening when I heard a noise on the porch....a possum enjoying the drippings!!!! I will try gravy next time!!

Lucky possom

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Just to follow up... several years later, lol.
Last night I made gravy with the juice from my beer can chicken. First time. And while it was good, it was gravy after all, it of course tasted like the rub from my chicken. That is a taste I prefer on the bird, rather than the spuds.
If I am wanting mashed potatoes and gravy again, and I'm grilling the bird, I would probably just use some chicken stock to make it. Either that or go with more traditional oven seasonings on the chicken.

Of course, you can make gravy without a roast. A roux, broth, seasonings, heat = gravy.

In place of chicken fat, use butter (or bacon fat) to make the roux, use reduced chicken broth or (enhance the broth with some chicken base) to intensify the flavor, and the seasonings you like in your gravy. Not as good as using the pan drippings and fond, but it's a tasty gravy.

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"If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -Carl Sagan